Detroit students walked into the College for Creative Studies with ideas shaped by their neighborhoods, their schools, their classmates, and the urgent needs they see every day. They did not come simply to compete. They came with plans for safer spaces, stronger student support, food access, substance use prevention, community healing, and youth-led solutions rooted in the realities of Detroit life.
The Aspen Challenge Detroit concluded its inaugural year Tuesday, April 28, with its culminating Solution Showcase, held in partnership with Detroit Public Schools Community District. The event brought together student teams from more than 20 DPSCD high schools to present projects addressing some of the city’s most pressing social and economic challenges before a panel of local civic, nonprofit, and community leaders.
The Showcase served as one of the district’s April “Beautiful Things” moments, placing student brilliance, leadership, and voice at the center of what public education in Detroit can produce when young people are trusted with real problems and given space to build real solutions.
Top-performing student teams will receive an all-expense-paid trip to the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, this June, where they will present their solutions before national audiences and festival attendees.
Throughout the Aspen Challenge, student teams spent several weeks researching community problems, designing projects, working with peers, and preparing six-minute presentations. Their topics included substance use, food insecurity, student voice, smoking and vaping, community safety, and other challenges affecting young people across Detroit.
For DeAndre Follower, a ninth-grade student at Central High School, the challenge became a way to think about what safety means for students who may not always have it at home.
“It’s important for my community because some people don’t got safe homes and we wanted to create a safe space for them and other kids,” Follower said. “We just wanted it to be a safe space for kids who don’t got a safe space at home.”
Follower said his team’s project focused on creating a “safe haven” for high school students, with activities, overnight support, and a feeling of belonging.
“Basically, you got all these activities you could be a part of,” Follower said. “It’s a place where you can stay overnight. It’s basically a home away from home. But a better home.”
His classmate, Kenya Wyatt, also a ninth-grade student at Central High School, described the team’s work as part of “Travelers for Purpose, Travelers for Change,” a project grounded in the belief that students need places where they can feel protected, understood, and supported.
“We want to have kids who’s in high school have a safe space for everybody,” Wyatt said. “Everybody needs a safe space, but for kids, especially. I think that when kids want a safe space and need a safe space, even if they don’t have a safe space at home, at school, you could also have the same space here.”
Wyatt said the Aspen Challenge also teaches students how to come together around shared concerns and build from there.
“You could come into a group or can make your own group, and also how to have a safe space, how to acknowledge other people, how to inspire people, how to inspire others, and come together as a family,” Wyatt said.
The Aspen Challenge, operated through the Aspen Institute’s Center for Rising Generations, has been running for about 17 years. DPSCD is the program’s 14th school district partner.
Kaya Henderson, executive vice president and executive director of the Center for Rising Generations at the Aspen Institute, said the program is designed to give young people the civic and leadership tools needed to solve problems they understand firsthand.
“The Aspen Institute is a think and do tank that focuses on bringing people together for civil discourse, for leadership development, and to solve the greatest problems of our time,” Henderson said. “I lead the Center for Rising Generations at the Aspen Institute, which our goal is to ensure that young people, 14 to 24, have opportunities to learn civil discourse, to participate in leadership development, and to engage civically.”
Henderson said the Aspen Challenge asks community leaders to identify urgent issues, then gives students time, resources, and coaching to develop solutions. Each student team receives $500 to work on its project during the nine-week process, and students are also paid for the time they spend participating.
“This is an opportunity to bring young people together to solve problems for their community that are identified by community leaders,” Henderson said. “It’s a really nice way to bring community champions to put big problems in front of kids, problems like food insecurity, or substance abuse, smoking and vaping, or student voice.”
For Henderson, the most powerful part of the Detroit showcase was watching young people move from concern to action. Students had to engage their peers, conduct research, build a project, work as a team, and present under pressure before judges from Detroit and beyond.
“They have to engage with their peers. They have to do research around a project, and they have to put together a six-minute presentation in front of a slate of judges,” Henderson said. “Some of whom are from Detroit, some are not, so they’re from all over the country. And they present the solutions that they came up with as a team.”
The judging panel included Mannone Butler, head of programs and partnerships for the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition; Chris Economeas, senior director of community and social responsibility for the Detroit Pistons; Justin Flynn, senior associate with Business Leaders for Michigan; Ambra Redrick, CEO and co-founder of Teen HYPE; Courtney Smith, CEO of Phoenix Center; and Ebony Walls, CEO and sports philanthropist with Be A Part of Me Consulting.
Walls said the experience underscored the power of listening to students as problem-solvers, especially when their presentations connected directly to lived experience.
“Today I had the honor to help change the lives of DPSCD students for the better, forever as two teams will be selected to move forward to the national Ideas Day in Aspen this June,” Walls said. “At BAPM Consulting we believe the greatest good you can do for youth is not just share your riches with them, but reveal to them their OWN!”
Walls said the student teams brought policy concerns down to the human level, particularly during presentations about gun violence and community safety.
“I believe that’s what myself and my fellow judges did today by reassuring all 24 DPSCD teams that they each possess the solutions to our nation’s greatest problems,” Walls said. “These students successfully brought the humanistic element to school and local policies. I was brought to tears when I asked what was their personal connection to their gun violence theme, as I too lost my little brother to senseless gun violence.”
One moment stayed with Walls. A Marygrove student placed her hand on a teammate’s shoulder during a presentation. When Walls asked why, the student explained that her classmate deals with anxiety and she wanted her to feel supported.
“She gracefully explained to me that her classmate deals with anxiety and she wanted her to feel supported so before they walked on the stage she told her, ‘anxiety fail me now,’” Walls said.
Those moments showed why the Aspen Challenge matters inside DPSCD. Students were asked to compete, but the day also revealed how they support one another, how they process trauma, and how they imagine a better Detroit from the perspective of young people living inside the city’s challenges.
Henderson said one of the day’s strongest lessons came from a team of six students where only two showed up to present. Four teammates decided not to attend because they were not confident in the presentation. The two students who remained still took the stage.
“One of the most profound things that happened today is there was a team of six, and four of them decided not to show up today because they were not confident in their presentation,” Henderson said. “But the two left over came and they presented, even though it wasn’t all that it was cranked up to be, but the way this crowd cheered for them, encouraged them, and, you know, we all have times where you’re at work and your group doesn’t show up for you. And you still have to go on.”
Henderson said the students’ courage became its own lesson, one that may last beyond the awards.
“Those kids were confident and resilient,” Henderson said. “And this room of young people rewarded that. And I think that’s going to be more important than even who the winners are.”
DPSCD Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti attended the morning portion of the showcase and spoke about the skills students were building through the challenge. Those skills reach beyond one event or one competition.
“We believe in you,” said Vitti as he spoke to the crowd of over 300 people. “You are all sitting here because you are leaders and your voice matters. You were selected to participate for a reason. Your teachers and principals see something special in you. I understand you have been working incredibly hard in the past 9 weeks to make real change in your communities. You’ve developed solutions to big, real-world problems plaguing our city, country, and the world. The experience you have gained here through the Aspen Challenge will serve you well in the future. Now, I know there will be some nerves in the room as you take to the stage to present your work but know that we are incredibly proud of how much you have all accomplished in this short timeframe. More importantly, your families, teachers, and all of us here today believe in all of you and your brilliant solutions. Two of the teams sitting here today will go to Aspen Colorado to represent the city of Detroit on the global stage of the Aspen Ideas Festival. Let’s show the world what you are made of!”
“All of these skills that they’re learning here, how to work in a team, how to solve problems, how to do research, how to engage stakeholders, how to present, are all great skills, not just for college, but for career,” Henderson said.
For DPSCD, the Aspen Challenge fits directly into the district’s broader commitment to highlighting “Beautiful Things” taking place across its schools during April. The Showcase gave students a public platform to demonstrate that learning does not stop at the classroom door. It reaches into neighborhoods, families, school hallways, and the systems young people navigate every day.
The day’s top honors went to two DPSCD student teams whose projects showed the range and urgency of youth-led problem solving across Detroit.
Henry Ford High School was named a grand prize winner for “Disconnect To Reconnect Detroit,” a project addressing substance use and the need for healthier choices, stronger peer support, and deeper community awareness among young people.
Detroit International Academy for Young Women also earned grand prize recognition for “The Pink Planters,” a project focused on food insecurity and the importance of creating student-centered solutions around access, nourishment, and community care.
Additional awards recognized the strength of student leadership across the district.
The School at Marygrove received the Collaboration Award for “The Grove,” a food insecurity project. Crockett Midtown High School of Science and Medicine earned the Community Engagement Award for “Midtown Market Movement,” also focused on food insecurity. Western International High School received the Originality Award for “Truth Tellers,” a substance use project. Academy of the Americas received the Resilience Award for “Socius Soteria,” a digital wellness platform.
Henderson said the Center for Rising Generations believes leadership grows with practice.
“At the Center for Rising Generations, we believe that leadership is like driving,” Henderson said. “The more you do it, the better you get at it. And so we want to give our kids as many at bats at leadership as we possibly can, so that when it’s their moment to lead, they have the skills and experiences to do that.”
Tuesday’s showcase made one thing clear.
DPSCD students are already leading. They are naming the issues. They are designing responses. They are standing before judges, peers, educators, and civic leaders with ideas born from Detroit and built for Detroit. The trip to Aspen may be the prize, but the work they brought to the stage is already part of the city’s future.
